128 Practical Farming 



losing the volatile carbonate of ammonia, or by leaving 

 the manure to leach under the eaves of the bam or on piles 

 in the field. We have also pointed out that there is less 

 loss when the manure is hauled and spread as fast as made. 

 Another loss of nitrogen from the farm is the selUng of 

 crops having a high feeding and manurial value, such as 

 legume hay, instead of getting its feeding value and saving 

 its high manurial value, and selling such crops as have a 

 higher market value, but a comparatively small manurial 

 value. There are conditions under which a farmer may 

 sell forage crops profitably by exchanging them for a 

 greater value in manure, but these conditions prevail only 

 in locaHties near a high-priced market for hay and a 

 plentiful and cheap supply of manure. As a rule, all 

 forage and roughage of the farm should be fed on the 

 land, and the manure carefully saved and returned; for, 

 aside from its value as a carrier of plant food in an avail- 

 able form, it is of equal importance as a means of keeping 

 up the nitrification in the soil and preventing the rapid 

 loss through denitrification. It is really a question whether 

 this last function of farm-yard manure is not fully as im- 

 portant as its use in supplying plant food direct. The 

 importance of constantly replenishing the nitrogen in the 

 soil is shown by the fact that, aside from the constant 

 escape into the air through the too rapid oxidation of 

 organic matter, it rapidly drains from the soil in the 

 drainage water when it has gotten into the soluble form 

 of a nitrate. This loss of nitrogen has been more pro- 

 nounced in the South than elsewhere, by reason of the 

 practice of leaving the cotton and com fields bare of 

 vegetation in winter, and exposing the soil to the winter 



